David De Gea is out of contract next summer so a new deal would allow Man United to protect an asset whose market price would rise to at least £80mn.

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David de Gea is close to finally agreeing a new contract with Manchester United, The Guardian reported. The goalkeeper is on the verge of completing the details on terms in the region of the £290,000-a-week basic earned by Paul Pogba and the Spaniard expects to sign soon, it is understood.
De Gea is out of contract next summer so a new deal would allow United to protect an asset whose market price would rise to at least £80mn. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was charged, in part, with convincing key players that their future remained at United when appointed caretaker manager last December.
Anthony Martial signed again for the long term in January and should De Gea follow this would be viewed as further success by the club hierarchy. The Spain international joined United in the summer of 2011.

Everton’s Mina fined
after betting charge
Everton defender Yerry Mina has been fined £10,000 ($12,338) after admitting a Football Association misconduct charge in relation to betting rules, English football’s governing body said. In a statement, the FA said that Mina was fined for “participating in an advertisement for betting activity which he is prohibited from engaging in”, a television advert for gambling company Betjuego in his home country of Colombia earlier this year.
The FA Regulatory Commission revealed all the money Mina received for the advert was donated to his charitable foundation, which was set up by the former Barcelona centre-back in 2016 to help disadvantaged young people back home.
It was also confirmed the 24-year-old requested the advert to be removed as soon as the he was informed he was in breach of FA rules, while he ended his association with the betting company in May. Stringent rules are in place over sports betting in order to prevent match-fixing and spot-betting.
Earlier this year, former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge, now playing for Trabzonspor, was fined £75,000 ($94,000) and handed a six-week suspension after being found guilty of breaching different betting rules.
Meanwhile, Leeds midfielder Jordan Stevens has been given a six-week ban and a £1,200 fine after placing 59 bets on football between August 2018 and May 2019 — including five games involving his own team.
The ban is on all footballing activity which means Stevens is unable to train with Leeds during that period or interact with players or coaching staff — a move the second-tier Championship club called “excessive” and a “disproportionate punishment”.
Tottenham’s Lo Celso ruled out until late October
Tottenham midfielder Giovani Lo Celso will be sidelined until late October after injuring a hip on international duty with Argentina. Lo Celso suffered the damage during Argentina’s 0-0 friendly draw against Chile in Los Angeles last week.
The 23-year-old was forced to withdraw from the Argentina squad and is back at his Premier League club for treatment. “Giovani Lo Celso has returned early to Hotspur Way after being withdrawn from the Argentina squad due to a hip injury,” said a statement on Tottenham’s website.
“The attacking midfielder sustained the injury during his national team’s match against Chile. He will now undergo a period of rehabilitation and is expected to return to training with the first team towards the end of October.”
Lo Celso’s injury is a fresh blow to Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino after his side’s spluttering start to the season, which includes just one win from four league games. The highly-rated Lo Celso has made three substitute appearances since arriving from Real Betis on a season-long loan on transfer deadline day, with a view to a permanent move.

City assemble football’s first billion-euro squad: study
Premier League champions Manchester City are the first team to have spent more than 1bn euros ($1.1bn) to assemble their squad, a study has shown. Data from the Swiss-based CIES Football Observatory showed that City have spent 1.014bn euros on their current squad.
French champions Paris St-Germain were second having spent 913mn euros and Spain’s Real Madrid were third with 902mn euros. Manchester United (751mn euros) have the second-most expensive squad in the Premier League followed by Champions League winners Liverpool (639mn euros). The Premier League average was 345mn euros, it said.
At the other end of the scale, Germany’s Paderborn had the cheapest squad in the study (4mn euros), which looked at teams from the English, German, Italian, French and Spanish top flights.

Five Cuban footballers
defect in Canada
Five Cuban footballers defected following the team’s 6-0 thrashing by Canada in the CONCACAF Nations League in Toronto, Cuban television reported. Yordan Santa Cruz, Andy Baquero, David Urgelles, Orlendiz Benitez and Alejandro Portal all left the squad in the wake of Saturday’s game, a report said, describing the defections as “regrettable”.
Santa Cruz is regarded as one of the best players in Cuban football and with Baquero had been part of the Cuban team that qualified for the Under-20 World Cup in 2013. The defections are the latest to hit Cuban football in recent years.
Forty-four players have defected in the past 17 years, including four who walked out on the team during the Gold Cup in the United States in June. In 2015 several Cuban players also defected during the Gold Cup, despite improving relations between Havana and the then US administration of President Barack Obama.

UEFA investigates French for delayed Albania kick off
UEFA said it had opened proceedings against the French Football Federation (FFF) after their Euro 2020 qualifier was delayed when Albania refused to kick off until they had heard their national anthem.
The hosts played the Andorran anthem by mistake at ahead of the fixture at the Stade de France on Saturday. After the angry Albanians protested, the correct anthem was played and the game kicked off more than five minutes late. UEFA’s Disciplinary Committee , which investigates any delay to kick off, has notified the FFF and the case will be heard on 17 October. The penalty is usually a warning for the first offence and a fine for a second occurrence.